I disagree. It is not about Polina as she is the Silver Medalist. It was between Mirai and Ashley. When there are issues like this, the Bronze medalist is the one that gets left behind. Mirai is doing the best thing for herself under the circumstance. She is being gracious and accepting which will go along way if she wants to continue competing.

If Polina is a more convincing Silver medalist I'd have agreed with you. The point is the difference between them in score > ranking can easy be justified by the PCS difference, and actually Mirai skated earlier than Polina, can also make a difference if the judging want to make the result widen substantially enough to place Polina above Mirai.

There is no reason to doubt anyone's sincerity. Mirai is disappointed that she was not selected for the Olympic team, but she wishes good luck for Ashley and team USA. Ashley is grateful for Mirai's support. Nothing controversial here.

There is no reason to doubt anyone's sincerity. Mirai is disappointed that she was not selected for the Olympic team, but she wishes good luck for Ashley and team USA. Ashley is grateful for Mirai's support. Nothing controversial here.

Yeah, I'm sure skaters put some thought into what to say to the media (and what to hold back, for that matter), but that doesn't mean any kind word out of their mouths is phony. Just because something makes a skater look good doesn't mean they don't mean it. I'd think someone in Ashley's position likely would be feeling a bit relieved at Mirai's comments and well wishes. How could she not? And Mirai, well, there are likely other thoughts going through her mind that she's keeping to herself, but that doesn't mean she doesn't mean what she says here, either.

There is no reason to doubt anyone's sincerity. Mirai is disappointed that she was not selected for the Olympic team, but she wishes good luck for Ashley and team USA. Ashley is grateful for Mirai's support. Nothing controversial here.

ITA. But media loves controversy. On NBC's website there is an article about Ashley changing her long program, and they included a link to Mirai's twitter message. There is also coverage of Ashley and Jeremy in Sochi, and there is a photo of Ashley (layback) and Mirai (spiral). LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Wagner's media savvy. She knows what she has to do/say to try to win the public back. Just sayin'.

BACK? Why should she have to win anyone BACK? No-one should ever have turned against her in the first place! It wasn't HER fault the selection criteria said what it did! It wasn't HER fault that Mirai had not been skating well for a long time. It's not HER fault that she was chosen for the Olympics and not Mirai!

If anyone has turned against her, well bully for them, and I would say to Ashley: you don't need those people. Don't bother trying to win them back; it's their loss.

There is no reason to doubt anyone's sincerity. Mirai is disappointed that she was not selected for the Olympic team, but she wishes good luck for Ashley and team USA. Ashley is grateful for Mirai's support. Nothing controversial here.

Karne, the public is fickle and often irrational about such things and frequently not fair minded. The result is that Ashely became the focus of their upset. Frequently, the wrong person becomes the target.

BACK? Why should she have to win anyone BACK? No-one should ever have turned against her in the first place! It wasn't HER fault the selection criteria said what it did! It wasn't HER fault that Mirai had not been skating well for a long time. It's not HER fault that she was chosen for the Olympics and not Mirai!

If anyone has turned against her, well bully for them, and I would say to Ashley: you don't need those people. Don't bother trying to win them back; it's their loss.

Agreed, and now people are saying those people are now saying it's PR blah blah blash. What can she do right now? I think she's being sincere. She didn't do anything wrong. This whole thing reeks of "Every story needs a villain" and so the media and irate Mirai fans decided to make a 22 year old the villain when there is no real "villain" in this story, not even the USFSA. They had a way of deciding who would make the team and Ashley met the criteria more. She didn't make the decision. Maybe this the USFSA's way of telling skaters "If you want to go to Worlds or Olympics you need to skate well all year not just at Nationals

There is no reason to doubt anyone's sincerity. Mirai is disappointed that she was not selected for the Olympic team, but she wishes good luck for Ashley and team USA. Ashley is grateful for Mirai's support. Nothing controversial here.

What? She easily won both of her JGP events and was 4th in the JGPF (5th in the SP after falling on her 3lutz but 2nd in the FS). In front of ISU judging panels. Landing triple-triple combinations.

You do realise that at the moment, the Ladies level at the JGP is higher than at the GP? Check the jumps landed at the JGPF vs. the jumps landed at the GPF.

And sorry but where in the IJS documents is 'being a newbie' listed as one of the PCS criteria?

In the JGP Final, held in conjunction with the senior GP Final, Edmunds, with a 161, scored 10 points behind the sixth place finisher in the senior competition. Even her FS, which you tout, was a 113, which is respectable but wont turn any heads in Sochi.

You say there is nothing in the IJS saying newbies will be docked in PCS. It may not be in writing, but in practice PCS scores are routinely held down for newbies. Look at Nagasu's PCS in Vancouver in her first ISU major championship. She outscored Rochette, by a small margin, in TES, yet lost in PCS by around 12 points. A month later in Torino, Nagasu's PCS suddenly shot up, not because her skating skills suddenly improved in that short interval, but because she was no longer considered a newbie. It wont surprise me if Edmunds, not just in her first ISU major championship, but her first ISU senior competion period, gets the same treatment as a newbie.